Exhibition "Half a Century of The Promised Land"
At the exhibition Half a Century of „The Promised Land” at the Museum of Cinematography, you can see the original notes of Andrzej Wajda from the time of the film’s production. The historic interiors of the Łódź factory owners Anna and Karol Scheibler’s palace, where Wajda filmed important movie scenes, serve as the venue for displaying costumes from the film. The exhibition will also present a film prepared by the Museum, in which the creators share their thoughts on the masterpiece: actors Daniel Olbrychski, Andrzej Seweryn, Wojciech Pszoniak, Anna Nehrebecka, and creators such as the film’s second director Jerzy Domaradzki, costume designer Barbara Ptak, makeup artist Anna Adamek, assistant production manager Waldemar Król, second set designer Andrzej Haliński, editor Halina Prugar-Ketling, and conservators Wojciech Walczak and Małgorzata Laurentowicz-Granas.
The Promised Land as an adaptation of the prose by Władysław Stanisław Reymont.
The screenplay of The Promised Land by Andrzej Wajda was based on the novel by Nobel laureate Władysław Stanisław Reymont. The original work was serialized in Kurier Codzienny between 1897 and 1898, and the book version of The Promised Land was published in 1899. The first film adaptation, a silent movie directed by Aleksander Hertz and Zbigniew Gniazdowski, featuring the star of the time, Jadwiga Smosarska, as Anka Kurowska, was made in 1927. The only surviving 15 minutes of the feature-length film can be seen at the Museum of Cinematography.
The Promised Land (1975, directed by Andrzej Wajda)
The Promised Land featured over fifty actors and more than a hundred extras. In Andrzej Wajda’s archive, among the director’s working notes, many different casting ideas can be found. From the very beginning, only the role of Karol, given to Daniel Olbrychski, was certain. The unforgettable music for The Promised Land was composed by Wojciech Kilar.
The official premiere of The Promised Land took place on February 21, 1975, at the Relax cinema in Warsaw. The Promised Land was very well received by the audience. In the year of its premiere, the film had over 6.5 million viewers. Film critics criticized the film for its obscenity and deviation from the literary original. Despite this, The Promised Land won the most prestigious Polish awards, including the Golden Lions at the Gdańsk Film Festival.
The exhibition Half a Century of "The Promised Land"
The year 2025 has been declared by the Senate of the Republic of Poland as the Year of Władysław Reymont, and by the Łódź City Council as the Year of The Promised Land. The exhibition „Half a Century of The Promised Land” is a tribute to Andrzej Wajda and the co-creators of his masterful work.
The exhibition „Half a Century of The Promised Land” is co-financed by the City of Łódź and the Polish Film Association.
The curatorial team of the „Half a Century of The Promised Land” exhibition: Rafał Andrzejczak, Marzena Bomanowska, Anna Michalska, Zuzanna Woźniak.
Half a Century of "The Promised Land" Exhibition – When is the opening?
The opening will take place on February 13 at 5:00 PM at the Film Museum in Lodz, pl. Zwycięstwa 1.
The exhibition will be open to the public from February 14 to May 4, 2025.
"The Half a Century of The Promised Land" exhibition has been co-financed with funds from:
Partners of the Half a Century of "The Promised Land" exhibition:
